24 AUGUST 1956, Page 19

MURDER '97. By Frank Gruber. (Arthur Barker, 10s. 6d.) This

rather more machine-made American thriller-cum-detective story is also about books, or rather a book—an Horatio Alger first edition, the chase after which, by a refreshingly unpleasant private dick, is syncopated by sluggings and double-crossings.